Dataset Information

Pesticide Exposure and Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis among Licensed Male Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The occupation of farming has been associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA); pesticides may account for this association, but there are few studies.

Objectives

We investigated associations between RA and use of pesticides in the Agricultural Health Study.

Methods

The study sample was drawn from male pesticide applicators enrolled in 1993–1997 who provided questionnaire data at baseline and at least once during follow-up (over a median 18 y; interquartile range 16–19). Incident RA cases (n=220), confirmed by physicians or by self-reported use of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, were compared with noncases (n=26,134) who did not report RA. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using logistic regression, adjusting for enrollment age, state, smoking pack-years, and education. We evaluated the association of RA with the use of 46 pesticides and across 4 levels (never use and tertiles) of lifetime days of use for 16 pesticides with OR?1.2 for ever use.

Results

Incident RA was associated with ever use of fonofos (OR = 1.70; 95% CI: 1.22, 2.37), carbaryl (OR = 1.51; 95% CI: 1.03, 2.23), and chlorimuron ethyl (OR = 1.45; 95% CI: 1.01, 2.07) compared with never use. Statistically significant exposure–response trends in association with RA were observed for lifetime days of use of atrazine [OR_tertile3= 1.62 (95% CI: 1.09, 2.40); p_trend=0.01] and toxaphene [OR_tertile3= 2.42 (95% CI: 1.03, 5.68); p_trend=0.02]. Exposure–response was nonlinear for fonofos [OR_tertile1= 2.27 (95% CI: 1.44, 3.57); OR_tertile2= 0.98 (95% CI: 0.54, 1.80); OR_tertile3= 2.10 (95% CI: 1.32, 3.36); p_trend=0.005] and suggestive for carbaryl (p_trend=0.053).

Conclusions

Our results provide novel evidence of associations between exposure to some pesticides and RA in male farmers. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1013.

SUBMITTER: Meyer A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5744649 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Pesticide Exposure and Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis among Licensed Male Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study.

Meyer Armando A Sandler Dale P DP Beane Freeman Laura E LE Hofmann Jonathan N JN Parks Christine G CG

Environmental health perspectives 20170714 7

<h4>Background</h4>The occupation of farming has been associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA); pesticides may account for this association, but there are few studies.<h4>Objectives</h4>We investigated associations between RA and use of pesticides in the Agricultural Health Study.<h4>Methods</h4>The study sample was drawn from male pesticide applicators enrolled in 1993–1997 who provided questionnaire data at baseline and at least once during follow-up (over a median 18 y; interquartile range 1 ...[more]

PMID: 28718769

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Project description:BackgroundSome pesticides are immunotoxic and have been associated with an increased risk of immune-mediated diseases. The risk of shingles, the clinical reactivation of varicella-zoster virus, increases with aging and immunosuppression; little is known about its associations with pesticides.ObjectiveWe examined the use of agricultural pesticides in relation to incident shingles in a prospective cohort of licensed pesticide applicators.MethodsThe study sample included 12,820 (97% male) farmers (enrolled in 1993-1997 in North Carolina and Iowa), who were followed for a median of 12 y (interquartile range: 11-13). Shingles was self-reported at enrollment and at follow-up. We evaluated ever-use of 48 agricultural pesticides reported at study enrollment in relation to shingles risk and considered exposure-response for intensity-weighted lifetime days (IWLDs) of use. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazard models, adjusting for state, and allowing estimates to vary by median attained age (60 y).ResultsIncident shingles was reported by 590 participants. Associations were positive (HRs>1.2) for ever- vs. never-use of eight insecticides, three fumigants, two fungicides, and five herbicides, and exposure-response trends were seen across increasing quartiles (Q3 and Q4>Q1) or tertiles (T3 and T2>T1) of IWLDs for four insecticides [permethrin (crops), coumaphos, malathion, and lindane], two fumigants (carbon tetrachloride/carbon disulfide and methyl bromide), and three herbicides [alachlor, trifluralin (<60 years of age) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid]. Shingles was not associated with total years or days per year mixed or applied any pesticides, but in older participants, shingles was associated with a history of a high pesticide exposure event [HR=1.89 (95% CI: 1.45, 2.45)].ConclusionsSeveral specific pesticides were associated with increased risk of shingles in farmers, especially at higher levels of cumulative use. These novel findings, if replicated in other populations, could have broader implications for the potential effects of pesticides on vaccine efficacy and susceptibility to other infections. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7797.

Dataset Information

Pesticide Exposure and Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis among Licensed Male Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study.

Background

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Pesticide Exposure and Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis among Licensed Male Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study.

Similar Datasets

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